Bring back manufacturing jobs

The Sun article by Jamie Smith Hopkins on unemployment ("Mismatch between jobs and seekers," April 17) was excellent. However, the decline in manufacturing was an area that was not emphasized enough as a cause of unemployment in Maryland and the United States. Students graduating from Maryland high schools that are not college bound have no place to turn to for good paying unskilled jobs. The steel industry barely exists. There are no shipbuilding jobs available, and there are no clothing manufacturing jobs around either.

President Obama should have used the stimulus money to bring back manufacturing jobs to the United States instead of loaning money to the banking industry. Outsourcing of jobs to foreign countries eliminates good paying jobs at home. If Americans, for example, have computer or telephone communication problems to be solved, why should we have to talk by phone to someone in India or Taiwan to have them resolved?

In short, Congress should be thinking about ways to create American jobs for Americans. Congress should be offering incentives to companies to bring back steel and auto industry jobs, shipbuilding jobs, clothing and shoe manufacturing jobs, and umbrella, toy making and hat manufacturing jobs. We have lost all these jobs and need them back.